Chenille sewing machine



Dec, 30, 1958 E. L. PAssoNs CHENILLE sswmc MACHINE Filed Sept. 13, 19542 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Erby L. Passons ATTORNEY .irll illl Dec. 30,1958 Filed Sept; 13. 1954 E. L. PASSONS CHENILLE SEWING MACHINE 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 5

INVENTOVR Erbg L. Passons ATTORN EY r assent Patented Dec. 30, 1958CHENILLE SEWING MACHINE Erby L. Passons, Chattanooga, Tenn, assignor toBroad Street Machine Company, Chattanooga, Tenn., a partnershipApplication September 13, 1954, Serial No. 455,652

4 Claims. (Cl. 112-78) This invention relates to chenille sewingmachines and more particularly to machines for sewing chenille patternson a fabric. It is especially designed for the sewing of loops ofchenille tufts.

The types of designs contemplated by this invention have been previouslysewn by hand, by a combination of hand and machine, and solely bymachinery of a complicated nature, all of which methods have provedunsatisfactory.

It is an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantagesincorporated in the above methods by making an improvement in thechenille sewing machine as dis closed in the United States patent toJulius Montgomery,

No. 2,573,043, whereby individual loop patterns may be formed in thechenille fabric.

Another object of this invention is to provide means for rotating thecloth beneath a rotating needle such as that disclosed in the abovepatent to Montgomery.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe following description taken in conjunction with the drawings,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a chenille sewing machine incorporating anembodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken along the lines 2-2 of Fig. l, withfabric included; 7

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, taken along the lines 33of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the design formed when a pair of needles and thecloth rotate in the same direction; and

Fig. 5 is a diagram of the design formed when one needle and the clothrotate in opposite directions.

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a circular work holding meansfor holding the fabric in taut position between a needle rotating in acircular path and the cooperating hook and cutter means rotating in anidentical path. The work holding means is adapted to rotate about anaxis offset from and parallel to the axis of roration of the needle, byan attached ring gear. This gear is rotated by a pinion which is linkedto gears of varying ratios and ultimately connected to the driving meansfor the entire machine. The work holding means is provided with gripspreferably of saw-tooth configuration to hold the fabric securely butwithout danger of tearing.

With the driving means in operation, the cloth is rotated about a fixedaxis, while the needle is also revolved about a fixed axis parallel tothe axis of the rotating fabric. The needle is preferably geared so thatit will make several revolutions to a single revolution for the fabric.If the needle and the fabric are turning in the same direction, a floraldesign composed of several loops simulating petals will be formed. Thenumber of loops will be governed by the number of revolutions of theneedle for each revolution of the fabric. If the needle makes sixrevolutions to the fabrics one, there .will be six loops in the floraldesign. If the needle is rotated in the opposite direction from therotation of the fabric, another loop design will be formed.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, Fig. 1 discloses a machinebasically similar to the one disclosed in Fig. 1 of U. S. Patent No.2,573,043, and includes a base 10 with an upright 11 supporting arm 12.Through the arm 12 extends main shaft 13, which can be driven by amotor, not shown, through pulley 14 adjacent hand wheel 15. A secondpulley 16 adjacent the pulley 14 is connected by a belt 17 to pulley 18fixed to needle shaft 19, mounted in bearings 20 above the arm 12. Theneedle shaft 19 rotates the needle bar 21 through the worm 22, at theend of the needle shaft 19, and the worm wheel 23. The needle shaft 19also rotates the hook and cutter mechanism Within the housing 24 throughthe chain and sprocket connection 25, the shaft 26, the chain andsprocket connection 27, and the shaft 28, the end of which is a worm,not shown, adapted to drive the worm wheel 29 to rotate the hook andcutter mechanism at the same speed as the rotation of the needle bar 21.The main shaft 13 also has an eccentric 30 which reciprocates link 31,causing the rock shaft 32 to pivot in its bearings at 33 and reciprocatethe hook and cutter mechanism through the rod 34. The main shaft 13 isalso provided'with means to reciprocate the needle bar, not shown, inamanner well known to the art. A needle holder bar 35 is attached at thebottom of the needle bar 21 and may be adapted to hold one or moreneedles 36 so that they may revolve in a circle about the needle bar asan axis when the machine is in operation. Through the various mechanismsdescribed, the hook 37 and the cutter 38, shown in Fig. 3, are likewiseadapted to travel in the same path as the needles and cooperate witheach other in a well-known manner to sew chenille fabric designs. Thread39 is fed from the spring tension device 4tl, through the needle bar 21,to the needles 36.

The improvement to this machine comprises a circular work holding meanswhich is designed to rotate about an axis parallel to the axis of therotating needle bar, and adapted to carry the fabric, into which adesign is to be sewn, between the needles and the hook and cuttermechanism. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the improvementshowing the relative positions of the needle bar, the needle and thework holding means, showing the relative movement of each, and a partialfabric pattern resulting therefrom.

As shown in Fig. 3, the improvement consists of a ring 41 internallytoothed and adapted to rotatably slide within a circular recess 42 inthe base 10, the top of the gear ring 41 being flush with or a littlebelow the top surface of the base It Keepers 43 are secured to the topof the base 10 so as to overlap the ring 41 and retain the ring in therecess 42; The saw tooth blade 44 is sweated around the outside of aring base 5 which is fixedly secured to the top of the gear ring 41. Theinternally toothed gear ring 41 is driven by pinion 46 fixed to shaft47, at the end of which are spiral grooves 48 adapted to be driven byworm 49. The worm 49 is linked through reduction gears Sit and chain andsprocket 51 to the shaft 26, which is linked to the needle shaft 19 andultimately to the main drive shaft 13, as previously described. In thismanner, the ring 41 is rotated about its center as an axis at a reducedspeed, and carries with it the saw tooth blade 44 designed to grip thebottom of the fabric upon which the design is sewn.

Presser foot 52 is adapted for vertical movement only, and does notrotate with. the ring 41 and the saw tooth blade 44 in operativeposition. A circular recessed track or race 53 in the bottom of thepresser foot 52 is designed to loosely engage the saw tooth blade d4 inoperative position so that the blade may rotate the fabric, the top ofwhich slides in the stationary track 53. For vertical adjustment, thehandle 54 is operated, causing the rod 55 attached to the cross braces56 across the 3 top of the presser foot 52 to move down or up, thusslidably and frictionally engaging or disengaging the fabric upon whichthe designfis formed.

The operation of the machine is.as follows:

The fabric upon which the chenille pattern is to be formed is placedupon the base '10 and on top of thesaw tooth blade .44 so that the bladefirmly engages the, fabric. The presser foot 52 is lowered so that-thecircular track 53 therein loosely engages the saw-tooth'blade 44, tomaintain the fabric in position yet allowing it to slide in the track.The machine is now operated in the same manner as is the machine in US.Patent No. 2,573,043. The needles 36 and the hook and cutter 37 and 38revolve in the same circular path, and cooperatewith each other toreciprocate the thread through the fabric and.to cut the loops formedthereby.

As the needles 36 are forming tufts at various points around theperiphery of circles having the needle bar axis as their centers, thefabric which is engaged between the presser foot 52 and the saw toothblades '44 is fed in a circular path beneath the needles. The circularpath of the fabric has an axis which is parallel to and offset from theneedle bar 21 so that thecircular path of a needle is preferably betweenthe center and the periphery of the rotating fabric. If a pair ofneedles are revolving in the same direction as the fabric, as indicatedin Fig. 2, a design will be formed as shown in Fig. 4. If .a singleneedle is revolving in a direction opposite from the rotation of thefabric, a design as shown in Fig. 5 will be obtained. As mentionedbefore, the number of loops or petals for each floral design will be thenumber of revolutions of the needles for each revolutionof the fabric.More than one needle will generate additional loops within loops, asshown in Fig. 4.

When the pattern is completed, the presser foot is raised, the cloth isshifted so that all the loops are pulled to the back of the hooks, andthe machine is turned, preferably by hand, until the knives or cuttersrise and cut these loops to form tufts, as described in U. S. Patent No.2,573,043. The fabric may then be moved to a new position to formanother design.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in the invention, without departing from the spirit and scopethereof, and therefore the invention is not limited by that which isshown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only asindicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for forming chenille patterns on a fabric comprising a basehaving a circular recess therein, a ring adapted to rotatably slide insaid recess, said ring having teeth projecting upwardly therefrom forholding a portion of fabric in taut condition, a ring-shaped presserfoot having a circular recess in the bottom thereof for loosely engagingthe teeth on said ring, drive means for uninterruptedly rotating saidring, means for raising and lowering said presser foot relative to saidring whereby said presser foot remains stationary while said ringslidably carries the perimeter of said fabric portion in said presserfoot recess, a needle bar carrying a needle mounted for reciprocation ina direction perpendicular to the plane of said ring, the longitudinalaxis of said needle bar being fixed and spaced from the rotational axisof said ring, means mounted on said needle bar for holding said needleoffset from the longitudinal axis of said needle bar, means forreciprocating said needle through the fabric held by said ring, meansfor revolving said needle about the longitudinal axis of said needle barin a circular path within the perimeter of said ring,

and means for operating said ring drive means, said needle reciprocatingmeans and said needle rotating means in synchronous relation.

2. A machine for forming chenille patterns on a fabric comprising abase, a ring having friction means for holding a portion of said fabricin taut condition and rotatably mounted in said base, an annular presserfoot adapted to cooperate loosely with the friction means on said ringin holding said portion of fabric on said ring, said presser footremaining stationary while said ring rotates said portion of fabric,means for raising and lowering said presser foot relative to said ring,a reciprocable needle bar having its longitudinal axis fixed and spacedfrom the rotational axis of said ring, said needle bar carrying a needleoffset from its longitudinal axis and mounted for reciprocation throughsaid fabric within the confines of said annular presser foot, and meansfor simultaneously revolving said needle about the longitudinal axis ofsaid needle bar, reciprocating said needle bar and continuously rotatingsaid ring about its center.

3. A machine for forming chenille patterns on a fabric comprising abase, a ring having teeth projecting upwardly therefrom for holding aportion of said fabric in taut condition and rotatably mounted in saidbase, an annular presser foot having a race in its lower surface forloosely engaging the teeth on said ring, a reciprocable needle barhaving its longitudinal axis fixed and spaced from the rotational axisof said ring, said needle bar carrying a needle offset from itslongitudinal axis and mounted for reciprocation through said fabricwithin the confines of said annular presser foot, and means forsimultaneously revolving said needle about the longitudinal axis of saidneedle bar, reciprocating said needle bar and continuously rotating saidring about its center.

4. A machine for forming chenille patterns on a fabric comprising abase, a ring rotatably mounted in said base, said ring having teethprojecting upwardly therefrom for holding a portion of fabric in tautcondition, an annular presser foot having a circular recess in its lowersurface for loosely engaging the teeth on said ring, saidpresser footremaining stationary while said ring slidably carries the perimeter ofsaid fabric portion in the circular recess of said presser foot, meansfor raising and lowering said presser foot relative to said ring, areciprocable needle bar having its longitudinal axis fixed and spacedfrom the rotational axis of said ring, said needle bar carrying a needleoffset from its longitudinal axis and mounted for reciprocation withinthe confines of said annular presser foot through said fabric, and meansfor simultaneously revolving said needle about the longitudinal axis ofsaid needle bar, reciprocating said needle bar and uninterruptedlyrotating said ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS652,326 Parkes June 26, 1900 1,267,566 Loeb May 28, 1918 1,420,319Kelley June 20, 1922 1,431,591 Lucy Oct. 10, 1922 2,007,819 Tillett July9, 1935 2,037,725 Kaiser Apr. 21, 1936 2,508,852 Blurnfield May 23, 19502,540,901 Montgomery Feb. 6, 1951 2,573,043 Montgomery Oct. 30, 19512,607,042 Schloss Aug. 19, 1952 2,656,803 Montgomery Oct. 27, 1953FOREIGN PATENTS 20,336 Great Britain Oct. 11, 1901

